Hinch shared prison with Meagher killer

MEDIA personality Derryn Hinch was on the same prison floor as Melbourne woman Jill Meagher's killer while he served a sentence for breaching a suppression order about the man.

Hinch was released from prison on Friday after serving 50 days for failing to pay a $100,000 contempt of court fine.

He said his initial stint at an assessment prison was tough, but the country prison where Hinch, who has long campaigned to name and shame pedophiles, served his sentence with predominantly sex offenders was like the Hilton.

Hinch still insists he is innocent of deliberate contempt of court and has not ruled out returning to prison for his cause, saying "never, say never".

The 70-year-old says he spent his first weeks in solitary confinement in the Melbourne Assessment Prison, where he shared a floor with the man jailed for Ms Meagher's murder.

"Jill Meagher's killer, he was sort of the reason I was in there and he and I were in the same prison, same floor, nearly adjacent cells," he told Fairfax Radio.

"I thought isn't it weird we are doing the same sentence at the moment for at least a couple of weeks."

Hinch spent his first two weeks in solitary, where he was on 23-hour lockdown, with the air conditioning not working properly on a 40 degree day.

He was later transferred to Langi Kal Kal Prison, which he said was too comfortable, with good food and grounds where prisoners could take a 5km walk.

The outspoken former radio broadcaster said he tried to keep clear of other prisoners and did not get into trouble.

Asked if he would go to prison again, Hinch replied: "I told a judge that I would try and find other ways to do it and that's what I intend to do, but I'd never say never."

He plans to publish diaries about his time in prison and will donate any proceeds to the Austin Hospital liver transplant research unit.

It was Hinch's second stint in prison after he served 12 days in jail in 1987 for contempt of court for revealing a pedophile priest's prior conviction while a trial was pending.